A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes
The advent of sexual reproduction and the evolution of a dedicated germline in multicellular organisms are critical landmarks in eukaryotic evolution. We report an ancient family of GCNA (germ cell nuclear antigen) proteins that arose in the earliest eukaryotes, and feature a rapidly evolving intrin...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109922 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5569-333X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9920-3411 |
| _version_ | 1811078318520270848 |
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| author | Carmell, Michelle A Dokshin, Gregoriy A Skaletsky, Helen Hu, Yueh-Chiang van Wolfswinkel, Josien C Igarashi, Kyomi J Bellott, Daniel W Nefedov, Michael Enders, George C Uversky, Vladimir N Mello, Craig C Reddien, Peter Page, David C |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology Carmell, Michelle A Dokshin, Gregoriy A Skaletsky, Helen Hu, Yueh-Chiang van Wolfswinkel, Josien C Igarashi, Kyomi J Bellott, Daniel W Nefedov, Michael Enders, George C Uversky, Vladimir N Mello, Craig C Reddien, Peter Page, David C |
| author_sort | Carmell, Michelle A |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The advent of sexual reproduction and the evolution of a dedicated germline in multicellular organisms are critical landmarks in eukaryotic evolution. We report an ancient family of GCNA (germ cell nuclear antigen) proteins that arose in the earliest eukaryotes, and feature a rapidly evolving intrinsically disordered region (IDR). Phylogenetic analysis reveals that GCNA proteins emerged before the major eukaryotic lineages diverged; GCNA predates the origin of a dedicated germline by a billion years. Gcna gene expression is enriched in reproductive cells across eukarya – either just prior to or during meiosis in single-celled eukaryotes, and in stem cells and germ cells of diverse multicellular animals. Studies of Gcna-mutant C. elegans and mice indicate that GCNA has functioned in reproduction for at least 600 million years. Homology to IDR-containing proteins implicated in DNA damage repair suggests that GCNA proteins may protect the genomic integrity of cells carrying a heritable genome. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:57:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/109922 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:57:42Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd. |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1099222022-10-01T00:16:28Z A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes Carmell, Michelle A Dokshin, Gregoriy A Skaletsky, Helen Hu, Yueh-Chiang van Wolfswinkel, Josien C Igarashi, Kyomi J Bellott, Daniel W Nefedov, Michael Enders, George C Uversky, Vladimir N Mello, Craig C Reddien, Peter Page, David C Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology Reddien, Peter Page, David C The advent of sexual reproduction and the evolution of a dedicated germline in multicellular organisms are critical landmarks in eukaryotic evolution. We report an ancient family of GCNA (germ cell nuclear antigen) proteins that arose in the earliest eukaryotes, and feature a rapidly evolving intrinsically disordered region (IDR). Phylogenetic analysis reveals that GCNA proteins emerged before the major eukaryotic lineages diverged; GCNA predates the origin of a dedicated germline by a billion years. Gcna gene expression is enriched in reproductive cells across eukarya – either just prior to or during meiosis in single-celled eukaryotes, and in stem cells and germ cells of diverse multicellular animals. Studies of Gcna-mutant C. elegans and mice indicate that GCNA has functioned in reproduction for at least 600 million years. Homology to IDR-containing proteins implicated in DNA damage repair suggests that GCNA proteins may protect the genomic integrity of cells carrying a heritable genome. Life Sciences Research Foundation Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2017-06-15T20:24:44Z 2017-06-15T20:24:44Z 2016-10 2016-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2050-084X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109922 Carmell, Michelle A, Gregoriy A Dokshin, Helen Skaletsky, Yueh-Chiang Hu, Josien C van Wolfswinkel, Kyomi J Igarashi, Daniel W Bellott, et al. “A Widely Employed Germ Cell Marker Is an Ancient Disordered Protein with Reproductive Functions in Diverse Eukaryotes.” eLife 5 (October 8, 2016). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5569-333X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9920-3411 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19993 eLife Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd. eLife |
| spellingShingle | Carmell, Michelle A Dokshin, Gregoriy A Skaletsky, Helen Hu, Yueh-Chiang van Wolfswinkel, Josien C Igarashi, Kyomi J Bellott, Daniel W Nefedov, Michael Enders, George C Uversky, Vladimir N Mello, Craig C Reddien, Peter Page, David C A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title | A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title_full | A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title_fullStr | A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title_full_unstemmed | A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title_short | A widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| title_sort | widely employed germ cell marker is an ancient disordered protein with reproductive functions in diverse eukaryotes |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109922 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5569-333X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9920-3411 |
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